Luckily, you are just seconds away from some very smart solutions from the Mud Valley™ strategy & brand marketing community.
Search our knowledge base.
Whether you are a marketer or a consultant Click here to join the Mud Valley™ strategy & brand marketing community for free!
The current free tool is the Brand/Customer Satisfaction Profiling Tool.
Mud Valley is dedicated to providing members with free processes, beta-test tools & techniques to help you develop & test your business & brand marketing strategies.
As a member you have unlimited access to our resource materials, and can order, free of charge, our beta-test tools within two months of their first release.
Thereafter, you can buy them in our tool shop!
Train for success!
Our latest training pack to be released is "Outsider Insider" Client Intimacy" - a toolkit to guarantee repeat business from your favourite clients.
We will train you on the use of our tools on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, and you'll get your money back the first time you use them.
Click here for more details, or contact us on +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium) - or e-mail us at enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk to start a discussion as to how our training can help you.
Getting the job done - quickly, effectively, knowledgeably, reliably
The first tool we ever developed was to help our client calculate how much sales of a new-to-the-world product he would get for a given level of investment.
Actually, we developed it so that he could argue with his boss.
He knew that his boss would say "Peter, I want the level of sales you have promised on half the budget you have asked for (or perhaps no budget at all, as he was a stingy old boss)!"
As Research International has discovered in deploying their MicroTest tool many thousands of times, it is easier to anticipate the sales you will get for a new product than it is to anticipate the budget you will get to do it.
With our NPD Calculator, Peter was able to prove to his boss, who may have been mean but he was also intelligent, that the level of sales to be achieved was dependent on the level of the marketing investment, by showing the exact relationship between the two for the new products he was being asked to launch.
So, one of the main reasons for using marketing tools is to be able to have an argument (or at least a discussion) with your boss, and to win it. By working your way through a tool, you can demonstrate the cool and considered logic of your argument.
The second tool we developed was a Significance Testing tool. If 58% of a sample of 200 people were happy in 2004, and 63% of 300 people were happy in 2005, has there been an improvement? So far as we know, we have the only tool on the market that can tell you the answer to this question based on just these facts. There are several tools freely available that tell you the statistical error for any sample size, but they are not what you need, which is a tool that calculates the statistical error for both samples, and the interaction between the two.
So, our tools help you:
- work out what you need
- argue your case
- do tricky tasks simply
As anybody who has ever done any DIY will tell you, and you have probably discovered this fact for yourself, a job is done quicker and more effectively if you have the right tool to do it.
Our tools are designed to at least feed in some key thinking before you start a market-facing project, by providing you with an industry best practice as a starting point for any task you need to complete. This saves you time and money, and helps guarantee the success of your project.
We also know that every organisation is different, so our tools are very easy to unpick and rebuild. From research, we know that many leading edge organisations do this all the time with our tools.
In summary, our tools help you:
- work out what you need
- argue your case
- do tricky tasks simply
- get off to a quick and sure start, cheaply and effectively
- be flexible in your approach
- get the job done
Did we say that leading edge organisation use our tools? Somewhat to our surprise, the answer is "Yes". Consultants from large advertising agencies (such as JWT and Saatchi), and from brand consultancies (such as Interbrand), and from major client organisations (such as Diageo and Danone) all use our tools. We once asked a marketer from Diageo why on earth she used our tools, and she replied "They are much simpler to use than the tools we develop ourselves."
We have been developing brand marketing and business strategy tools since around 2002, and each one has been published to our members as a beta-test to identify errors and areas of complexity in using them. So, not only have they been tried and tested by us on consultancy projects, but they have also been tried and tested by our membership.
We have to admit that by 2008, developing a new tool at the rate of one a month, we are a bit running out of ideas, so if you notice any gaps, we would very much appreciate hearing from you.
You can find most of our tools in our Tool Shop, or you can get a better sense of their breadth and depth here.
If you join the Mud Valley business strategy and brand marketing community, you receive free beta-tests of any new tools we develop.
You can buy our tools for £9.99 each in our Tool Shop, and go it alone.
Or you can ask us to train you in one specific tool, or in as many tools as you need to complete your task, and we will throw in the necessary tools for free.
Click here for more details, or contact us on +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium) - or e-mail us at enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk to start a discussion as to how our training can help you.
Strategy - hired guns or DIY?
In a world in which you will certainly have ten competitors trying to put you out of business, if not hundreds, thousands, or even millions, having an effective strategy designed to make sure that you out-perform everyone else is increasingly critical.
If any of those competitors have a significantly better strategy than you have, growth is going to be tough, and even standing still may be hard.
The big question is whether you should call in the hired guns to develop a strategy on your behalf, or whether you build on the skills, knowledge and realism of your own people to develop one yourself, albeit with some expert support.
We suggest that the answer depends on why you want a strategy in the first place:
- just to have one - someone, someday will ask to see it, or:
- in response to a specific request from higher management, or:
- to fashion a competitive advantage and optimise performance
Many strategies, whether at the business or brand marketing level, are a PowerPoint presentation, developed by a team over a couple of days, that sits on your PC somewhere. Everyone has forgotten what was agreed, and the world has moved on anyway. No-one needs to pay McKinsey $400,000 to develop one of those.
If, on the other hand, you are required to develop a credible strategy by your higher management, you may well be prepared to shell out some protection money. The principle objective here is not to go all out for growth, but to save face. A report adorned by a Big 4 logo should keep the vampires away, and if things go wrong, no-one can blame you - you called in the best (or, at least, most expensive).
However, if you are one of those managers who really want serious growth, and are determined to develop a strategy to deliver it, we suggest that you are better off going the DIY route.
Why? Because successful strategies require, above all, the buy-in of those who are tasked with implementing them.
Quality consultancies will undoubtedly develop quality strategies, however they are like transplanted organs, they require huge quantities of drugs to prevent them from being rejected. Organisations are organisms - they hate solutions imposed from outside.
Your people already have great ideas about how they can get growth. Many will have at least the basis of skills to forge these into a set of strategies which are aligned with each other, and which point to a viable solution. What they probably need are some processes, tools and techniques to add some rigour to their approach, and to explore solutions they might not otherwise consider. They could probably also benefit from some expert outside help, and they could certainly do with a ruthless and objective "bullet-proofing" process to give everyone the absolute confidence that their strategy will deliver. Under these conditions, there is every chance that your strategy will achieve breakthrough results.
Mud Valley specialises in supplying processes and tools, global experts and leaders in their field (drawn from our extensive strategy and brand marketing community) to help you analyse why your strategy and business is under-performing, and then to ensure that you fix it.
We call this "bullet-proofing", and the team we use to solve your problems we nickname "The Firing Squad".
Not only will we provide you with leading global experts in their field, but we can also identify and recruit strategic contract or consultancy resources to ensure the immaculate implementation of your plan.
Not only that, but we have encapsulated our combined knowledge in an extensive strategic toolset that you will learn to use and apply under our guidance, and which you are then free to keep for whenever the need arises.
We also provide an exceptional environment for developing the plan, and the plan-for-the-plan, which is maximally conducive to intense reflection, inspired direction, and meticulous planning for implementation.
You really do not need to rely on the inspiration of the moment
- The Mud Valley™ Stakeholder Strategy Understanding tool is a 5 minute employee interview to gauge the extent to which your critical stakeholders understand and are committed to the strategy you are already implementing.
- The Stakeholder Strategy Feedback tool gains immediate feedback
from your key implementers as to the extent to which they are enthused by your strategy as you develop it, and as to barriers to implementation.
- Mud Valley has a comprehensive set of 51 Strategy Development & Audit tools, to lead your team through the entire strategic planning process from establishing your corporate intent to bullet-proofing the execution of your plan, reviewing the results, and implementing corrective action.
- Mud Valley has a further 27 Brand Marketing tools, capable of taking your team through a rigorous audit to understand your markets, your customers, your own and competitive brands, at both a rational and emotional level, and evaluating the synergies and disconnects within your communications and messaging processes.
- Mud Valley also has a full set of Six Sigma tools to analyse your problems, map solutions, and establish control plans in any and every aspect of your business environment. These tools are at the leading edge of Six Sigma methodology.
Whether you are a marketer or a consultant click here to join the Mud Valley™ strategy & brand marketing community for free!
Mud Valley is dedicated to providing members with free processes, tools and techniques to help you develop and test your corporate, business and brand marketing strategies.
Train for success!
We will train you on the use of our tools on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, and you'll get your money back the first time you use them.
Click here for more details, or contact us on +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium) - or e-mail us at enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk to start a discussion as to how our training can help you.
Do you really understand brand marketing?
It would certainly help!
Once it was enough to build the best products/services on the market, and to tell everyone about them.
Now everyone has good products/services, and the world has got so noisy that persuading people to listen to you is more and more difficult.
Once it was enough to offer your products/services at very competitive prices.
Today, many products/services are simply given away as loss-leaders, so anything you charge is premium pricing.
Once it was enough to be smart and energetic.
Now the Internet has made the world an open global market, with millions and millions of smart, energetic people, who may be literally hungrier than you are.
So how do the smart, successful people succeed?
By being smart, being energetic, being hungry - but, above all by having the know-how to succeed.
And when they want to remain successful over many years, the indispensable skills they need to learn are in brand marketing.
Brand marketing is about having a fresh, compelling, proposition that makes you stand out a mile from the competition, and that is targeted at specific people who are especially likely to want to buy your products and services, and who will give you the return on investment you need.
This does not happen by accident. It happens by knowing what you need to do, and then having the tools to help you do it.
Luckily, you are just seconds away from some very smart solutions from the Mud Valley™ strategy & brand marketing community - integrating business strategy, brand marketing and Six Sigma to ensure that your business remains razor-sharp!
Whether you are a marketer or a consultant click here to join the Mud Valley™ strategy & brand marketing community for free!
Mud Valley is dedicated to providing members with free processes, tools and techniques to help you develop and test your corporate, business and brand marketing strategies.
Train for success!
We will train you on the use of our tools on a one-to-one basis or in small groups, and you'll get your money back the first time you use them.
Click here for more details, or contact us on +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium) - or e-mail us at enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk to start a discussion as to how our training can help you.
Mud Valley is the trading name of Supermoth Industries Ltd., a UK-registered private limited company, registration number 04093060.
Registered Office address:
7 Beechlands, Taverham, NORWICH. NR8 6SZ, UNITED KINGDOM.
Our telephone number is +44 208 123 1438 - Skype: mudvalley (Belgium).
Our e-mail address is enquiries@mudvalley.co.uk.
